Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 38 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How to Drain an Abscess, by Lonestar Doc

Most of us have heard of them and many of us have had to creep surreptitiously to the nearest emergency room to have one drained. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, someone is going to have to do the dirty deed and take care of the darn thing. This is a short description on how to try to fix an abscess and to determine when do you really need to break into the antibiotic storage? I must warn you you up front, do not do this if there is any other option. If there is medical care available, they are the ones who do this. If this is a SHTF situation and you are on your own for who knows how long, this just might be something you need to know. I do not take any responsibility for those cowboys out there who jump in and do this when there is perfectly good medical care available. This is a survival blog and this should only be undertaken in a survival situation. Never should you practice medicine without a license. If the country/world collapses and there is no doctor or other medical resource, this is general medical information if this particular health problem arises. Proceed at your own risk .

Skin abscesses have become epidemic in this country. Go to any football locker room and you will see one or two with evidence of a previous abscess. What is it you ask? It is a collection of pus and bacteria and “inflammatory fluids” all collected in a space in the skin or under the skin. Yes, you can get an abscess deep inside, but unless you have previous medical training, you will not be able to get to those. And realistically, even those with previous medical training will have a hard time, without all the bells and whistles, getting to a deep abscess.  This short essay will help you deal with a skin abscess in a survival situation. Realize, this is simply for a survival scenario. If there is medical care available, you need to take advantage of their knowledge and skill set, but if not, pus under pressure needs to be opened up.

Most abscesses we see on or in the skin are caused by a few skin bacteria that normally live there and are given the opportunity by way of a small skin tear or nick to set up an infection. The first few days, it starts to grow and although it may start out as a pimple, it soon grows to a hard, red, hot lump that is very painful… It may even be surrounded by an area of redness; cellulitis in the medical parlance. The person sporting the lump may actually start to run a temperature and feel lousy.

One of the most common abscess forming bacteria we see nowadays is Staph aureus.  This bacterium comes in two varieties: Methicillin resistant “MRSA” and Methicillin Sensitive: “MSSA”.  The methicillin part refers to the bacteria’s character in response to a specific antibiotic. MRSA is the dreaded acronym everyone hears about from football teams to surgery suites. Although it is a bacterium you may associate with abscess, there are many more bacteria that can cause the furuncle or boil or “risin” (my personal favorite) that you see on your body. Whether the bug is MRSA or not, the treatment is the same and that is to open up the pus pocket, irrigate it out and then decide, do I really need antibiotics for this or not? Most of us will be hoarding our precious antibiotic supply in a SHTF situation and there are really good reasons for not breaking into an antibiotic supply for abscesses. 

Diabetics with immune systems that do not work so well are a special challenge. They often get an abscess that has multiple bacteria (polymicrobial) and in their particular situation, any infection is potentially life threatening. I don’t have an answer for this, in a SHTF situation. Even with modern medicine, diabetics lose feet and legs at an alarming rate from simple injuries like stepping on a needle or rubbing a blister on their heel. They can also get a rapidly moving infection that looks like an abscess and progresses in a few hours to a full blown septic shock that would be untreatable in a disaster situation.

So, you discover an abscess on one of your survival mate’s body, or they bring it to your attention or “Ruh row” (as Scooby so fondly says), you get one. The first decision is: do I need to open this up?  Not all lumps are abscesses. One of the giveaways is pus or purulent fluid draining from the lump.  If there is “pus in der”, you can be almost sure you have an abscess. Be sure to get a history about a possible foreign body like a sliver or shrapnel or thorn, etc. If there is pus, try to delineate the margins of swelling (we call it induration) and push lightly on the lump to see if it feels “boggy”. That is a sign that there is still inflammatory fluid, white cells and bacteria collected in a little lake under there.

The next decision is can I drain this? The biggest deterrent to drainage is what is under the abscess. I say this to caution you that if you go cutting into someone’s abscess, you better have an idea of what is under the thing and how deep can you go  without cutting any big blood vessels, nerves or structures your friend may need to pick up and get outta Dodge…

Have a medical book with you that show you what the underlying anatomy is. Frank Netter Anatomy is a great set of books to have where there is no doctor, but they are expensive and heavy. Look for a little anatomy book on Amazon or some other bookstore to keep with your medical supplies.  Just a note, Gray’s Anatomy is the book that seems to jump to mind for lay persons…I do not find that particular book very helpful. [JWR’s Adds: Here I should mention that the widely-available “Classic Collector’s Edition” reprint of the 1901 edition of Gray’s Anatomy is practically useless. It has sparse illustrations and the terminology is out-dated. I second the recommendation for Frank Netter Anatomy.] Browse a few books at the library or a medical library before the SHTF to find a book you can understand and find stuff in.

There are a few places where I don’t even cut, (e.g.: near an eye, around the anus or on the fingers), but if there is no other option and no hope of another option (emergency room or doctor) because the world fell apart, I would try at least to drain it with a large bore needle (like a 16 or 18 gauge needle) even if I would not frankly cut into it.

So, you have identified an abscess, you know it is not overlying any high price real estate like a carotid artery (look that up in your anatomy book-good practice for finding stuff in it) and it is red, hot, swollen , boggy and painful. Remember I said, not all lumps are abscesses, so be careful…Once you have identified it, put on some of your medical gloves and take about 4 ml of lidocaine from your stock supply and ask the patient if they are allergic to lidocaine or any other anesthetic. If they tell you “no”, then  clean the overlying skin off with your medical antiseptic ( chlorhexidine swab, iodine swab or alcohol), use a 27-gauge needle to  inject right under the skin, a line of lidocaine that welts up like a little road across the middle of the boggy part of  the abscess. You need to stay pretty superficial and the line goes right across the top of the abscess. Should look like a little “trail” across the top. Once you inject enough to make a little wheal, then remove the needle and direct downward into the abscess being careful not to go too deep into the underlying structures. Inject the rest of the lidocaine into the area performing a “field block”. You can inject at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock using about ½ ml. Wait for about 10 minutes. Then take a scalpel and cut through just the skin right along the little wheal you made with the first injection. Once you are through the skin, hopefully the pus comes pouring out as it is under some pressure in there filling up the little lake under the skin. You can take a Q-tip and gently move around the pocket to break up little pockets in the abscess and then take a big syringe and fill with clean tap or purified water and wash out the wound like you would wash out the inside of a sink with the sprayer.  If the thing is bleeding, make sure you put direct pressure on it and hold that until the bleeding stops. Put several of your dressing bandages on top to soak up the rest of the stuff that will be draining out over the 24 hours or so.

Most newer information says you do not need to leave anything in the wound to keep the skin open. Once drained you need to decide, do I give antibiotics? The answer is no. Drainage is the treatment for abscesses. Antibiotics do not do anymore than drainage does so save them for someone who needs them because they will be really hard to come by in TEOTWAWKI.

Again, don’t cut any patient on the hand, right around the anus or near an eye. Barter with a doctor or medic to help you with that if there is one in the area. They have a better idea of what the stakes are if it is in a high rent district like that…..

If you were able to drain this effectively, the wound should start to look less red and swollen by the next day. The hardness (induration) should also start to get better. Once the pressure is taken off the surrounding skin by drainage, the person should also get some relief immediately once it is drained. Tell the patient to keep it covered while the residual pus drains out and to try to wash it twice a day in a stream of water that is clean or purified. You don’t need sterile water, but you don’t want to introduce a bunch of other dirty bacteria into the wound you just drained and irrigated.

Disclaimers: Remember, this is not to be used in the country we live in, on the present day. You cannot practice medicine without a license in this country or you could go to jail. If the SHTF, and there is no one around to get medical care from, you may have just learned a skill that can keep someone from getting really sick or dying.  This article does not constitute professional advice.  It is intended for general informational use only.   No doctor-patient relationship is implied nor otherwise established between the author and blog readers.

I am praying that you will never need to use this.

Economics and Investing:

B.B. sent this: UBS’ Advice on What to Buy in Case of Eurozone Breakup: “Precious Metals, Tinned Goods and Small Calibre Weapons”

Also over at Zero Hedge: Rumor Meet News: S&P to Put All 17 Euro Nations on Downgrade Watch. (Thanks to Keeley for the link.)

Lord Stevens: youth unemployment will fuel disorder on the streets.

Chris Martenson and James Turk talk about the Global Debt Explosion, Europe, and Derivatives. Martenson asks: “How do you un-wind $600 trillion to $1 quadrillion in derivatives?”

Richard Russell: Expect a Jolt in Commodity Prices in the Near Future

Items from The Economatrix:

Fed Hawks Say Central Banks Can’t Solve Fiscal Woes

Tens of Millions of American Families are Living on the Edge of Desperation–And the Economy is About to Get a Whole Lot Worse

Gold:  Will it Go to $12,500 – $24,000 – or $39,000/Oz. By the End of the Decade?  Here’s The Rationale For Each

John Williams Hyperinflation Warning, Preserve Wealth Value With Gold

Study Documents Desperate Conditions Facing The Unemployed In America

Odds ‘n Sods:

Texas Drought Visible in New National Groundwater Maps. (Thanks to L. M. for the news tip.)

   o o o

Pierre M. sent us a tale of the Hegelian Dialectic, Perfected: Documents: ATF used “Fast and Furious” to make the case for gun regulations

   o o o

File under Poor Choice of Targets: Mugger left bloodied after attempt on MMA fighter. (A hat tip to J. McC. for the link.)

   o o o

House Busters: Television Stunt Goes Awry, Sends Cannonball Rocketing Through Homes. Just because a technology is old doesn’t make it ineffective.

   o o o

Mary in South Carolina was the first of several readers to send this: Greeks Turn to WWII Starvation Recipes Cookbook to Survive Bad Economy.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"You cannot be defenseless against evil. To discard the means for people to defend themselves leads to the kind of holocaust we have seen over and over again."  – Alan Keyes

Notes from JWR:

Today marks Pearl Harbor Day — December 7, 1941, 70 years ago today. My Quote Of The Day comes from the lyrics of the song Smoke On The Water. (No, not the better-known song of the same name by Deep Purple.) This one dates from 1944, by Western Swing singer Red Foley. I suppose that many in the Kumbaya crowd would consider the lyrics politically incorrect.

With the World War II generation now nearly gone, it is time to reflect. I, for one, have not forgotten their sacrifice.

—

The following another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 38 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Self-Sufficiency Gardening in Climate Zones 8 and 9, by David G.

Unemployment is rampant. The government is bankrupt. Foreclosures are everywhere. And one day soon, you may find your local grocery store has closed and shut off your supply of Hot Pockets. Most of us have never had to grow our own food. Those that have grown their own generally do it as a hobby – or as a way to get a vine-ripened tomato without selling a kidney..

Climate zones 8 and 9 [found in much of Arizons, parts of Florida, and the regions at the north end of California’s Central Valley] are not a gardening paradise. If you go further south, you can grow tropicals year-round (like papayas and mangos) – further north [or into higher elevations], and you get fewer destructive insects and more options (like horseradish, gooseberries, and European pears).

However, that’s not to say you can’t grow food here. You can grow plenty to eat. Most of the Southern US has many native edibles of varying quality: beautyberry, sumac (not the ones with white berries), hickory nuts, blackberries, shepherd’s needle, Chickasaw plums, mulberries and many more. Our long season allows gardeners multiple harvests as well, provided they can outrun the insect population and beat back the nematodes.

The trick to growing here is generally two-fold: water and organic matter. Droughts must be overcome with proper irrigation, and our sun-beaten sandy (and sometimes clayey) soils benefit greatly from mulching, manure and compost.

It’s been said that it takes thousands of square feet to feed a person for a year. In a small lot, this is often impractical – but there are ways to maximize your yield. Long-term planning will allow you to harvest tons of food (literally) from an average yard. The trick? Fruit trees and shrubs, along with edible perennial herbs. One peach tree can easily produce 40-100 lbs of fruit a year. According to the University of Arizona agricultural extension office, the average yield of a grapefruit tree is 350 lbs a season. Also according to the University of Arizona, an 8-year old pecan tree will usually bear 40-50 pounds of nuts at maturity. Of course, if you plant that tree in a 1/10th acre lot, you’ll kill your chances of growing sun-loving annuals forever. However, if you create a “guild” by planting a pecan tree, surrounded by a ring of smaller fruit trees, which are then interspersed with smaller fruit-bearing shrubs, you have created a high-density food factory that will out-yield – even taking into consideration some tree over-crowding – any garden and do it with much less work.

MULTI-YEAR CROPS
Good trees to consider include many members of the citrus family (though allegedly no longer recommended by the University of Florida due to the spread of greening and canker), loquats, persimmon, pindo palms, olives, chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates and low-chill plums, peaches, pears and apples.

Shrubs include blueberries, blackberries, cattley and pineapple guavas, prickly pear and edible bamboos. A few notable vines could also be added: grapes, kiwi and passion fruit. Hops vines are another good addition if you’re going to start brewing when your work dries up and you can no longer afford to buy bottled beer. And if your hops “fails to thrive,” thanks to our warm climate, wormwood is a passable substitution as a bittering agent.

Among perennial plants, the herbs are king. They may not provide much in the way of food, but the spice they add and the medicinal benefits of their consumption make them invaluable to a survival garden. Sage, rosemary, mint, hyssop, lavender and oregano are excellent starting plants.

STORING HARVEST TO EAT YEAR-ROUND
Planning your crop planting to ensure yield over as much of the year as possible is a good idea. However, you’re not limited to eating dirt during the winter if your squash crop happens to fail.
Proper management of your harvest is key. We’ve all heard someone say “I have a ____ tree and it bears all at once… most of them just rot! We can’t give enough away!” People that say things like that have lost the ability to reason and will be the first to be eaten in the apocalypse. Preserving is not difficult. It can be done through drying, freezing, canning or fermenting.

The Indians dried fruit and meats to take them through the winter and you can do so, too. A dehydrator is an excellent investment – and building a solar dehydrator is also worthwhile in case the electrical grid is rendered inoperative by an EMP strike, fuel shortages, a labor walk-out, abnormal sunspot activity or other disasters.

Freezing generally requires blanching vegetables (to deactivate decay-inducing enzymatic processes) in boiling water. Fruits can just be frozen as they are, with seeding, skinning, pitting, chopping or whatever preparation you prefer done ahead of time.

Canning requires more work at the front end and some specialized equipment such as mason jars and lids. It’s a little-known fact that you can also re-use almost any jar from the store for canning. Look at the rubber seal under the metal lid of the jar. If it’s intact and the lid fits snugly, you’re good-to-go. Despite the manufacturer’s instructions, mason jar lids can also be sterilized and reused. Just make sure that the pop-top seal is intact when you pull your preserved bounty off the shelf in the future. If the seal compromised–as evidenced by a popped top–then throw it out. Because another thing that mixes poorly with survival is Clostridium botulinum. And while on the topic, a pressure canner is superior to the water bath method in its ability to destroy potential pathogens. Boiling water is fine for high-acid foodstuffs (fruit), but don’t do green beans or corn that way. It’s not worth the risk.

Fermentation is probably the least utilized and most misunderstood method of preservation. In fermentation, you’re actually encouraging the growth of beneficial organisms and letting their excretions preserve your food. Wine and beer are yeast-based ferments – a sugar-to-alcohol conversion that renders the final product less appetizing to decay-inducing organisms and more appetizing for partygoers. Acid-forming bacteria were originally the preservers of sauerkraut and pickles. And various other molds and sundry animalcules have played their part through human history in the creation of cheeses, miso, sauces and other delicious foods. Without refrigeration, fruits and vegetables break down quickly. Encourage the formation of the right species of microorganism via brining, oxygen inclusion or exclusion, or other methods and you’re well on your way to ditching the fridge. Not to mention the major health benefits incurred by consuming the beneficial species that colonize your fermented harvest.

WHAT TO GROW           
When considering what to plant in a garden, the first question that is often asked is “well – what do you like?” That’s a good start; however, in survival gardening, the first question should probably be “what can you survive on that requires the least input to the highest yield?” If your answer is “okra,” you may just want to go ahead and starve.

Sweet potatoes and cassava are two of the best root crops for our area, yielding well even with low care – and they also contain a high caloric load. Sweet potatoes beat cassava on nutrition – and their leaves can also be used as a green. Cassava leaves are edible too, but only after steaming. Otherwise, you’ll be ingesting cyanide. Cyanide and survival are generally at odds with each other.
Grains are less useful in the home garden, except as perhaps a cover crop or animal forage. The yield to input/work ratio is poor and the space required makes their cultivation impractical for home-scale agriculture.
Cabbage and other members of the crucifer family are excellent choices, with cabbage being the king thanks to its ability to be turned into sauerkraut.

Winter squash is another good choice. Many of our squashes, such as the “Hubbard” squash, were originally popular because of their ability to keep for six months or more in non-refrigerated environments.

Planning an area for blackberries is also an excellent idea. Thornless cultivars such as Ouachita and Natchez grow well in the hot south and will out-yield many other crops. Children love them. What other recommendation is needed?

Tomatoes are also easy to grow and may actually improve in flavor when canned or dried. Peppers are another member of the solanaceae family that does well in this region.

Tobacco, though a little difficult to start from seed, is a worthwhile addition (addiction?) to your home garden even if you don’t smoke. The leaves will be an invaluable bribe to smokers suffering from the shakes. The flowers are attractive to hummingbirds and the leaves can be distilled into a nicotine insecticide that devastates aphid populations.

Beans are another good choice. The “yard-long” or “asparagus” varieties thrive in the heat and will out-yield most other pole cultivars. Bush beans do well also. Peas will grow in the early spring and add valuable nitrogen to the soil as they grow.

Forget about asparagus, celery, rhubarb and head lettuces [in Zone 8 or 9]. They are a waste of time.

PLANNING           
Keep your friends close – and your garden closer. Putting high-maintenance plants in a raised bed at the back end of your yard is a recipe for failure. Keep them where you can immediately be aware of any pest or water issues. Right by the back door is usually perfect, with your compost on the other side of the garden from your house. Doing so allows you to easily discard spent plants and apply compost without enlisting the aid of a wheelbarrow, a grandchild, a pack animal or a catapult. Work smarter, not harder! Make sure a water source is nearby and that you also have vehicle access, if possible, to allow you to bring soil amendments, fertilizers and mulch right to your garden.

Using heavy mulch in your garden will eliminate most weed issues. Gather leaves in fall and winter, along with grass clippings, pine needles, rotten straw or other organic matter and put it alongside your garden space for use as needed. A heavy mulching in fall will keep cool-season weeds from emerging and also allow worms to stay moist and breed in the soil, bringing valuable oxygen and nutrients from the surface into your beds. Cover cropping in winter with peas, lentils and various crucifers also adds organic material and is a cheap way to keep the soil intact – not to mention providing some vegetables for the table when the main harvests are done.

Plant trees as soon as possible. If you’re limited on space, stick to smaller varieties. Again, the square-foot yield you’ll receive from a mature tree requires little input compared to an annual vegetable bed. Leave space for trees – you’ll be glad you did – and remember: the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago.

CONCLUSION
 Now is the time to start planning and growing. Do your research and experimentation before you’re required to live off your land. And if there’s a miraculous turnaround and you never need to go farther than the supermarket to stay fat and happy – great. You’ll at least get some delicious preserves from your fruit trees and will have learned a bit more about food production. Finally… relax. If you can’t manage to grow enough vegetables, you’ll certainly be able to subsist on the grasshoppers and hornworms attracted by your efforts.

Editor’s Note: David is in the Florida Master Gardener program in North Central Florida.

Letter Re: Seasonal Reminder: Popcorn Tins for EMP-Proof Storage

Jim,
Just a quick note to those interested in obtaining a simple cost-effective Faraday Cage-like enclosures to protect small to mid-size electronic devices. As has been mentioned in SurvivalBlog before, the large steel cans of popcorn sold at the large box stores this time of year make great EMP-proof storage containers. After emptying the popcorn just place your electronics into the can and place the lid on top. No need to ground the container.

I place my Fluke multimeters, spare Solar charge controllers, spare handi-talkies and mobile radios in these tins. Thanks for all you do. – Larry D.

Economics and Investing:

Central Banks Dollar Liquidity Only Prolongs The Euro Debt Crisis.

J.B.G. sent this: Desperately Seeking Capital: Berlin May Have to Nationalize Giant Commerzbank.

By way of Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit comes this: China to Prepare for Social Unrest.

Jim Rogers: US Falling Into ‘Deeper Trouble,’ Faces 2013 Depression. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.)

G.G. sent this: Anxious Greeks Emptying Their Bank Accounts

Items from The Economatrix:

MF Global Proves Enron-Era Accounting Lives On

Central Bank Intervention:  Much Ado About Nothing

Analyst:  Earnings Outlook May Be Deteriorating Rapidly

Analysis:  BofA Close To Its Limit For Share Issuance

Odds ‘n Sods:

Andrew Price (who is well-known for his Dryad Bushcraft and A-Z Bushcraft web sites) plans to make a film in New Mexico: TEOTWAWKI – a fictional documentary. I’ve corresponded with Andrew since before the days of SurvivalBlog, so I can vouch that this won’t be a typically Hollywood hatchet job.)

   o o o

Camping Survival has added a new closeout items section, with some amazing bargains.

   o o o

F.G. flagged this: Disaster preparedness leads the way in holiday shopping this Christmas season.

   o o o

Consider the recent headline from Japan about the Eight Ferrari pileup. The amazing thing is that the Japanese national debt piled up faster than the value of those wrecked cars in the time period that it took to clean up the mess. (And here in the U.S. of A., we’d need to wreck a fleet of Ferraris every hour for the equivalent, since our own National Debt is increasing at the rate of more than $1 million per minute.)

   o o o

Congrats to video blogger Cody (a.k.a. “Wranglerestar”), who moved his family to a new 50+ acre retreat in the Cascades that features a 100 year-old ranch house. BTW, I recommend subscribing to updates to his collection of videos.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There will be a sad day comin’
For the foes of all mankind
They must answer to the people
And it’s troubling their mind
Everybody who must fear them
Will rejoice on that great day
When the powers of dictators
Shall be taken all away.

There’ll be smoke on the water
On the land and the sea
When our Army and Navy overtakes the enemy
There’ll be smoke on the mountains
Where the Heathen Gods stay
And the sun that is risin’
Will go down on that day.”

– Red Foley, Smoke On The Water

Note from JWR:

I ‘m pleased to announce that we’ve added yet another prize to the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, starting with the recently-started round: A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. This new prize brings the combined value of the writing contest packages to around $5,000 per round. (The total varies, depending on the number of Honorable Mention prizes awarded.) Many thanks to FloJak.com and to their parent company Stone County Ironworks for their generous support of SurvivalBlog!

Taking The Gap–Your Move to The American Redoubt

I will soon be interviewed by John Jacob Schmidt on Radio Free Redoubt. The theme of this podcast hour will be “Taking The Gap”. My goal is to exhort listeners to re-prioritize their finances and set a goal–with a date attached–to make the move to the American Redoubt. (This region includes Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.) I urge preparedness-minded Christians and Jews of all races and from all walks of life to make the move, soon.

I sincerely believe that the American Redoubt the will be the safest and most free place to live in North Americas in the 21st Century. Granted, there are lots of other regions that are relatively safe. (Even a few in the eastern U.S.–like the Cumberland Plateau, in Tennessee, as Joel Skousen has suggested.) But the American Redoubt has some outstanding attributes (such as low population density and isolation from major population centers), and very few drawbacks. May God Bless all SurvivalBlog readers, and grant them protection, regardless of where thy live!

I should explain that “Taking The Gap” is a British football term, adopted as slang by citizens leaving Rhodesia in the 1970s and 1980s.  Most of them that wisely left preserved much of their wealth, whereas those who stayed after Comrade Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party consolidated power in Zimbabwe had their life savings wiped out by currency export controls and the subsequent hyperinflation. Many of those that continued to own farms were forcibly evicted, and a few were raped, tortured, or killed.

Other illustrations of the Take the Gap concept can be seen in the recent war in Darfur (where a few merchants wisely left, early on), the Balkan Wars of the 1980s, the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People of the 1970s and 1980s, those who escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Jews that fled Germany and Poland in the 1930s. (And of course the fate of those who imprudently lingered.) I hope that considering those precedents in light of America’s current economic peril will help crystallize the American Redoubt relocation concept.

Please consider:

1.) We still live in a free country, where families can migrate between the 50 States, at will.

2.) There are still good opportunities to relocate businesses and to find work in the Redoubt region. But finding steady work will prove difficult if you wait until the nation is in a full-blown Depression.

3.) The chance to sell houses on the east and west coasts still exists, but that might evaporate in the next few years, as real estate prices continue to decline and the average “time on market” expands. If you wait too long, then you may lose the equity in your presently-owned house.

4.) Land and home prices in much of the Redoubt region are still reasonable, and some retreat-worthy properties are available. If you want to build, there are now plenty of contractors and subcontractors available, and they are sure to put in very competitive bids. (A sign of lean times.)

5.) Prepper-friendly churches, synagogues, and home churches are plentiful in the Redoubt region.

6.) The window of opportunity to move all of one’s possessions/livestock/vehicles/liquid assets will be slammed shut in the event of a societal breakdown or the institution of martial law.  I can’t stress this more highly: Be an early, voluntary relocatee, rather than an 11th-hour refugee.

7.) As I’ve already stressed in previous writings, being an absentee landowner is a poor excuse for living at your retreat year round. If you are forced by circumstances to live away from your retreat, then stock it well, preferably using a hidden basement room or a root cellar with a concealed entrance. (Burying the entryway under a pile of firewood works well.) Keep in mind that in the event of a sudden collapse, you might have just ONE TRIP outta Dodge. You may not have the chance to go back for second load.

8.) For any proficient English-speakers that live overseas in an over-populated or otherwise “at risk” nation, it is not too late to immigrate to the U.S. (And if you do, then please consider settling in the Redoubt.)

9.) You can network with others that plan to move and those that have already moved, through the Radio Free Redoubt Forum, the Free State Wyoming Project, the Mental Militia’s Gulching/Self-Sufficiency Forum, and at Alt-market.com.

Conclusion
Whether you call it Taking the Gap, Going Galt, Getting Out of Dodge, Gulching, or Strategic Relocation, is just a matter of semantics. Of real importance is your recognition that moving soon to the American Redoubt or to another safe region is a wise course of action.

Letter Re: Advice on 5.7 x 28 Uppers for AR-15s

Mr. Rawles:
I would be interested in your comments on the AR-57 conversion for AR-15s and its potential use after SHTF. – Mike K.

JWR Replies: Mostly for purposes of experimentation, I bought both rifle and pistol AR uppers in the 5.7×28 caliber. (I own just one “Pistol ” marked AR lower, sans buttstock), and also have a 10″  5.56 barrel for it.) En toto, I have put nearly a thousand rounds through my two 5.7 uppers. I found that the pistol upper in 5.7 functions well, but the rifle upper in 5.7 jams frequently for some reason that has been difficult to trace. These jams smash the cartridges, and are slow to clear, since they necessitate removing the magazine. That was disappointing.

The top-mounted magazine allows very low prone shooting, but I found that it was almost a three-handed operation to swap magazines. I can’t imagine ever having it be as quick and convenient as traditional magazine swaps. That would take a lot of practice.

Most importantly, since it is still essentially and oddball caliber and under-powered, I consider the 5.7×28 cartridge a substantial STEP DOWN from the 5.56 mm NATO in power and range. So I plan to continue to use my 5.7 uppers as transitional trainers for my younger children, and perhaps some varmint shooting, but nothing more.

In essence, the AR-57 has good looks, but it simply doesn’t have a lot else going for it, at least in the context of disaster preparedness. My recommendation is to skip it unless you plan to carry an FN Five-Seven as your primary sidearm. Again, since it is an unusual chambering, that approach would necessitate laying in a lifetime supply of ammunition. Buying guns in oddball calibers goes against the conventional wisdom of common standardized calibers for survivalists.

Letter Re: Budget Prepping in the Suburbs

JWR:
Kevin’s article on budget prepping touched me to the core. We all began the journey, at the begriming, with all the problems/challenges of those young or older and the common denominator of the demands of family/job/time/location and the most important limiting factor: fiscal resources.

 
Please bear with me while I lay the groundwork for this subject, throughout my prepping learning curve of about 55 years which started when I was about five years old,  began with my parents trying to spoon feed me information as a young child, with their own prepping experience, which they never thought of themselves as being in any sense “preppers”, they viewed it as being survivors during a terrible crisis called the “Depression era of the 1930s”. They were  late teens city dwellers in Chicago and because of lack work, food, and hope. They were forced to move to the country where caring relatives with a farm provided them with shelter, food, and farm work in order to earn some survival money.  Realize–because real history is not taught in our learning institutions–that the Great Depression lasted almost a decade and it was not an enjoyable picnic that records about the upper class try and portray.  My parents existed on canned rabbits, racoon, and deer in mason jars for meat, canned everything else you could only dream of for side dishes. By the way, racoon meat is very lean and tasty when the stink fat on the surface of the carcass is totally removed.  Beef and pork were raised for income and regenerating the herd, few farmers/ranches had a lot left for their own families it was a luxury for most.   In addition my farther, shoveled coal by hand from the barges, on the Illinois river at 50 cents a ton which was considered a fortune during the Depression and he hunted at night for raccoon or whatever could be located.

My learning about their experiences was thru teaching how to act as a human being, stories about their trials, training me “how to” by doing it with them, from Dad I learned hunting, and everything that goes with it, including how to be a man, from my mother I learned that sewing, preparing and caning food, washing clothes, and cleaning where not just for a female,   we know call that cross training.  The spoken words from them, gave me fond memories of their story of life, one of mom’s sayings was “Eat for the hunger that is coming.” I used to laugh about that, but guess what, I no longer laugh. 
 
Kevin’s  story is the paradox we all face to some degree, most people have the awareness and instinct but how to take the actions to plan and execute those ideas for not only yourself, but even a greater hurtle to bring that level of understanding and commitment to your partner and family/relatives to join you in that commitment 
“be prepared”.   We all dream about having unlimited funds in order to complete a 20-person self-contained hidden underground shelter connected to a 10,000 square foot casa, with provisions for 10 years and of course its on a secluded on 100 acre hidden retreat 50 miles outside the nearest town in the great northwest. I would estimated that less than 1/2 of 1% of those who prep have anything even close to that.
 
Our reality, was recognized I believe by Teddy Roosevelt saying  “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  That is our yardstick, any fallback plan, or bugout to a retreat should be a part of the equation, the more we plan leads to more potential action, that leads to having versus not having. Remember lead by example, I don’t want to preach, pardon and forgive me if it comes across that way.  My intent is to thank Kevin for a very pleasant, eye-opening article which states in very honest terms, his situation. A lot of us face the same.  We have time, we have the means to varying degree. So if you can only afford a can of food, or a box of candles, or an inexpensive firearm with ammo then take the action.   Do we join a group? Lets be up front: It takes a lot of time and energy to [form or] become part of a “group” so we are faced with protecting our own families first.
 
Happy Trails, – John in Arizona